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Audi designs a foosball table, redefines "fine motor skills"

We know what you're thinking. I love me some foosball; if only the game were infused with a bit more... car. Well, Audi Design has answered your prayers, good friend.

The design was initially unveiled a couple of years ago, but is only now entering production, albeit limited: Only 20 examples of this soccer table are being produced by specialist firm Leonhart, each carrying a heft €12,900 (~$16k) price tag.

And yes, you could probably get yourself behind the wheel of a nice used A4 for that amount. But would that be as much fun? Well, probably. But for the fanatic who's already got an R8 in the driveway, this very well might be the ultimate addition to the gaming room. Details – including endorsement from none other than the head of the Bavarian Table Soccer Association – in the press release after the jump.

A football is always a football! You can kick an old one around just as easily as a modern one. The same applies to the good old table soccer game. A strong wooden frame, 22 players and of course the traditional green pitch – what more could you need for excitement and fun? The Audi design team nonetheless decided to take a closer look at this rectangular table, and decided that a rounded-off shape would be better. Two years ago the Audi Design soccer table was still a study from Audi Concept Design Munich; now a small batch is to be produced. Times change: let nobody say that a table soccer game doesn't have to look good. After all, in professional soccer these days the ball is made from polyurethane, not leather.

What does the Audi Design soccer table feature apart from emotion-packed design? Of course –"Vorsprung durch Technik"! The materials, workmanship and technical interpretation all satisfy the very highest standards. Aluminum and high-strength plastic fittings are added to the handcrafted wooden core. Also important: the table meets the high standards demanded in professional tournaments – a unique combination of function and design. Only 20 of these tables will be built initially: an exclusive series costing 12,900 euros per table.

"It's a attractive task to transfer our cars' design language to other day-to-day articles, and the results are often surprising!" says Wolfgang Egger, Head of Audi Group Design. "The Audi Design soccer table features large-area, flowing surfaces and sharp, clearly defined lines. The brushed aluminum frame creates an exciting contrast to the white body. Our design team looks forward to displaying one of these tables at our Concept Design studio in Munich."

For this project, nothing has been left to chance: ten Audi trainees at the Audi instructional workshops in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm had the task of building the soccer tables. A year's painstaking craftsmanship, closely supervised of course by the design team in Munich, was needed before the high-precision prototypes were ready. Table soccer manufacturer Leonhart, a Bavarian company that has specialized in these popular leisure games since 1949, used them to produce a small, exclusive batch of tables. Its expertise is essential, since professional players have tuned their reactions to identify even the slightest differences in the way the table behaves.

Thomas Przesdzink, German table soccer champion on several occasions and Chairman of the Bavarian Table Soccer Association, has already tested the new Audi Design table. His verdict: "It looks just great. That tells us nothing about how it performs, but here too I was pleasantly surprised: this is a very good table. From a sporting point of view, it could certainly be used for an official tournament series."